The Church of Saints Philip and James is located in Cerete Alto and overlooks a panorama that embraces the entire Borlezza Valley.
It was built to the design of sculptor Andrea Fantoni, on this occasion in his first experience as a planning architect, who chose the location called ‘castle’ on a rise.
It was built between 1711 and 1725 and consecrated only in 1736; materials from the old parish church, which was located just below in today’s Piazza Martiri della Libertà, were reused for its construction.
All that remains here is the 16th-century Chapel of the Annunciata, a niche with a fresco from 1421, and the trace on the floor of the plan of the original Church of Saints Philip and James.
Many works of art can be found inside this church.
The high altar (1721) is all marble and is the work of the Fantoni family of Rovetta, with precious inlays, angels, cherubs and the scene of the “Sacrifice of Isaac” in the antependium.
All the altars and several wooden sculptures express the presence of these sculptors, whose workshop was active throughout the province of Bergamo from the 14th to the 19th century.
The vault was frescoed by Brighenti in 1848.
The altarpiece of the high altar, “The Madonna and Child in Glory, Saints James and Philip with St. Peter Martyr,” is attributed to Antonio Cifrondi, a Lycian painter active in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
The artist Petrus Vecchia is credited with the painting of the altar of St. Anthony “The Madonna in the act of handing the Child Jesus to the titular saint” (1654) while The painting of the altar of the dead is by Litterini Bartolomeo (1720).
Other works have been attributed to Marziale Carpinoni and other local artists.
The entrance portal was recovered from the former church.
The bell tower, added in 1914, is the work of Pietro Brozzoni of Costa Serina and boasts a concert of 9 bells in D b.